All school playgrounds and gyms use standard hollow traffic cones for a variety of purposes. However, as of yet there has been no effective way for the cones to be used as base standards. An end of a pole could be placed through the top hole in the cone, with the remainder of the pole extending upwardly. These poles could be used in turn to support hurdle bars and hockey goals, among other things. Unfortunately, the traffic cones do not support the poles well because the top hole in the cone is often too large for the pole and because there is nothing within the hollow cone to support the end of the pole which is in the hollow space. In other words, the pole does not fit snugly within the cone. Thus, when a force is applied to the end of the pole which is outside the cone, there is no counter force at the pole's other end to stabilize the pole. The pole merely pivots around the top hole. Needless to say, this arrangement leaves something to be desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,862 teaches the use of an adapter on the end of a pole in order to stabilize the pole in the top hole of a traffic cone. The adapter is simply a tube having a flange end for engaging the top hole and preventing the tube from passing completely through the top hole and into the hollow space defined by the cone. Unfortunately, the adapter only reduces the space between the pole and the top hole: it does not prevent the end of the pole from moving about the hollow space within the cone. The adapter may provide some additional support for a pole extending horizontally from the cone; but the adapter provides little or no additional support for poles extending vertically from the cone.